Celebrate the Small Things - Dear Cat edition

Dear Toby Cat,

When I get up early, it's because I'd like to write without interruption.  I want to spend a little time getting my words in for the day before Little Roo wakes up and I have to turn into 'Mom'.  It's not that I don't love being Mom, but it can be hard to give Doodlebug the attention she deserves and write at the same time.  This is my solution.  Plus, if I'm able to make my word count in this morning writing session, I can actually spend some time with Mister tonight, snuggling on the couch and watching a movie, instead of frantically pounding away on the keyboard in the hopes of hitting my goal before falling exhausted into bed.  You understand.

So I would appreciate it if you didn't zoom up and down the hallway outside Little Roo's bedroom, yowling at the top of your kitty lungs for who knows what reason.  I need her to sleep right now, and you doing your level best to wake her up is in direct opposition to my goals for the morning. Keep it up, and I'm going to rethink this whole 'two cat household' thing.

(Oh, who am I kidding?  You know your position is secure.  It's a good thing you're so cute.  Still, keep it down, okay?)

Love,

Me

(Today, I'm celebrating the fact that Little Roo did indeed sleep through the feline shenanigans, and I was able to make my word count for the day early this morning.  Yay for progress!)

If you've been reading my blog, you know that Fridays are reserved for a post where I celebrate the little things that have happened during the week. This is a blog hop created by Vikki and now hosted by Lexa Cain, and it's one of my favorite blogging things to do.  I encourage you to check out her blog and the full list of participants, because who doesn't love reading about good things? 

Celebrate the Small Things - Return to normal edition

Hello, everyone!  When I last posted two weeks ago, Mister and I had planned to go see a movie to celebrate his birthday.  Things did not go quite as planned.  We had just sat down at the restaurant when my Mom called with the news that Little Roo was throwing up.  Needless to say, we canceled our plans and rushed home.  Fortunately, she made a fast recovery.  I wish I could say the same.  I managed to come down with a stomach bug, and I got so dehydrated I wound up in the ER.  I'm on the mend now, but I have a collection of bruises to show for my needle sticks. The experience was a bit scary, but I'm grateful the issue wasn't more serious.

Now that we're all healthy, Mister and I are going to try this movie thing again.  Here's hoping we can make it work this time!

What are your plans for the weekend?

If you've been reading my blog, you know that Fridays are reserved for a post where I celebrate the little things that have happened during the week. This is a blog hop created by Vikki and now hosted by Lexa Cain, and it's one of my favorite blogging things to do.  I encourage you to check out her blog and the full list of participants, because who doesn't love reading about good things? 

Celebrate the Small Things - Musical edition

Happy Friday!  Sorry to be a little late in posting, but the day got away from me.

This week, I'm celebrating my recovery from the sinus infection from hell. I still have a few sniffles, but I feel loads better compared to this time last week.  Hooray for modern medicine!

Today, Little Roo had her first music appreciation class.  She had a blast! We sang songs, chanted, danced, and they had several kid-friendly instruments for her to play with.  She even played alongside a little boy and his sister, which is huge because she's normally a watcher rather than a player. The class meets every Friday until August, and I'm excited to go back next week :)

We don't have any big weekend plans--just errands and the usual weekend stuff.  What about you?  Tell me what's going on so I can live vicariously through you!

If you've been reading my blog, you know that Fridays are reserved for a post where I celebrate the little things that have happened during the week. This is a blog hop created by Vikki and now hosted by Lexa Cain, and it's one of my favorite blogging things to do.  I encourage you to check out her blog and the full list of participants, because who doesn't love reading about good things? 

Celebrate the Small Things - It takes a village edition

Happy Friday!  Hope you've had a better week that me--I'm sick.  I think it's a sinus infection, and it's the worst one I've had in years.  It's really knocked me out, and I'm so lucky that my Mom lives nearby, because she has been a lifesaver the past few days.  She's watched Little Roo while I napped, and she's the only reason we've made it through the week.  If I'd been on my own, the baby would have been parked in the pack-n-play in front of the TV all week.  I honestly don't know how single parents survive, and I hope I never have to find out!

Fortunately, I got my book turned in before falling ill.  And I'm happy to report that I'll be writing another Colton family book, which will be released next May!  I had a blast writing Colton Baby Homecoming, and I think this book will be just as fun! :)

Any big weekend plans?  I'm hoping to regain my sense of taste and smell soon, and I'm also hoping to feel well enough to attend a free symphony concert on Sunday with the family.  Little Roo loves music, and I hope she'll enjoy it.

Hope you have a good weekend!

If you've been reading my blog, you know that Fridays are reserved for a post where I celebrate the little things that have happened during the week. This is a blog hop created by Vikki and now hosted by Lexa Cain, and it's one of my favorite blogging things to do.  I encourage you to check out her blog and the full list of participants, because who doesn't love reading about good things? 

Celebrate the Small Things -- A little bit of everything edition

Happy Friday!  I've got lots to celebrate this week, so let's get started!

The view from the wedding venue...

I missed last week's post because we were traveling to Nashville for my brother's wedding.  It was the first time we had tried to travel with Little Roo, and I'm happy to report she was a real champ.  She slept through most of the flights and did pretty well in the hotel, too.  She was also a very good sport about the number of people who wanted to meet her/hold her/talk to her.  Overall, it was a very successful trip, and the wedding itself was lovely.

Speaking of weddings, on Monday Mister and I had our second anniversary.  We went to see Captain America to celebrate (fun movie, I would recommend it) and this weekend we are going to the symphony which should be a nice treat.

We got a new washer and dryer, and I am loving it! Our old set still worked, but it was a little too small and I got tired of doing load after load after load of laundry.  The new set is bigger, and I've already made quite a dent in my laundry backlog!

I hope to get some writing time this weekend.  My book is due next Friday, and it has a title--Dr. Do or Die.  What do you guys think?  They're working on the cover now, and I can't wait to see it!

That's it for me.  There are some cool things brewing on the writing front, but I'm not allowed to talk about it yet--you'll just have to stay tuned! ;)

How was your week?  What are your plans for the weekend?  Let me know!

If you've been reading my blog, you know that Fridays are reserved for a post where I celebrate the little things that have happened during the week. This is a blog hop created by Vikki and now hosted by Lexa Cain, and it's one of my favorite blogging things to do.  I encourage you to check out her blog and the full list of participants, because who doesn't love reading about good things? 

Celebrate the Small Things - Factory settings edition

Happy Friday!  What did you get up to this week?  Anything fun or exciting?

This week, I'm celebrating our return to health.  I'm finally done with the cold, and while Little Roo is still a tad stuffy in the mornings, she's just about back to normal.  It was a pretty gentle introduction to illness for her, as far as these things go, so I'm glad for that.  Things could have been much worse.

This weekend, I hope to get caught up on all the A to Z posts everyone is doing.  I'm hoping to participate again next year--this year just got away from me (again!), but I do love the hop and it's always so much fun to see everyone's theme and read their posts.

What are your weekend plans?

If you've been reading my blog, you know that Fridays are reserved for a post where I celebrate the little things that have happened during the week. This is a blog hop created by Vikki and now hosted by Lexa Cain, and it's one of my favorite blogging things to do.  I encourage you to check out her blog and the full list of participants, because who doesn't love reading about good things? 

Celebrate the Small Things - Thanksgiving edition!

Happy Friday!  I hope everyone had a good week.  Today, I'm celebrating Thanksgiving, which seems appropriate for this blog hop!

My brother and his fiance flew into town yesterday and we shared a lovely meal with them and my Mom. I was a little nervous as to how Little Roo would take to them--they saw her when she was a week old, but that's been it.  She's been showing signs of stranger anxiety lately, and I was worried she would cry a lot since she doesn't recognize them. She was a champ though.  She stared them down for a few minutes at first but then warmed up to them and pretty soon she was smiling and cooing as usual.  It was so nice to have all my family together!  My brother and his fiance will be in town through the weekend, so I'm looking forward to spending additional time with them.

How was your week?  What are you doing this weekend?

If you've been reading my blog, you know that Fridays are reserved for a post where I celebrate the little things that have happened during the week. This is a blog hop created by Vikki and now hosted by Lexa Cain, and it's one of my favorite blogging things to do.  I encourage you to check out her blog and the full list of participants, because who doesn't love reading about good things?

Celebrate the Small Things - Fall edition

Hello, everyone!  I hope you all had a lovely week.  Things are going well here at Casa Lacombe.  I don't want to jinx us, but Little Roo appears to be settling into something that resembles a sleeping routine, which is a nice change.  Keep your fingers crossed this whole 'sleeping at night' thing continues!

Belle gives her seal of approval

This week, I'm celebrating the return of cooler temperatures. We had a cold front move through earlier in the week, and we're due for another this weekend.  It feels so nice to step outside and not immediately wish I hadn't.  I really hope the fall weather continues, since I'd like to spend some time in the yard--it's been sadly neglected during the heat of the summer, and it shows.  I'm sure my neighbors are tired of looking at the weeds and wilted flowers!

On the writing front, I got my copyedits back for Colton Baby Homecoming, my March release, and I'm looking forward to working on those.  I also got my author copies of Killer Season, my November release, so stay tuned for giveaway information in the coming days!

I hope you have a nice weekend, wherever you are.  Take care!

If you've been reading my blog, you know that Fridays are reserved for a post where I celebrate the little things that have happened during the week. This is a blog hop created by Vikki and now hosted by Lexa Cain, and it's one of my favorite blogging things to do.  I encourage you to check out her blog and the full list of participants, because who doesn't love reading about good things?

So I did a thing...

Image credit

I quit my job this week.

Such a simple statement to describe a decision that was anything but.

I always assumed that I would work.  For a long time, I didn't think I'd ever have kids, and I was okay with that.  I'm a firm believer in making your own happiness and not depending on others to give your life meaning and fulfillment.  But as I got older, the idea of children wasn't quite so... scary. Still, I figured if I ever did have kids, I would be a working mom.  After all, I invested quite a lot of time and effort in my education and I wanted to put it to good use.

Even after I got pregnant and was surfing the tsunami of hormones, I knew I would continue to teach after my maternity leave was up.  I am, after all, a Modern Woman, and I wanted my daughter to see that it is possible to work and have a family.  Countless women before me had fought hard for the progress I now enjoy, and it's my responsibility to keep pushing forward so that Little Roo can inherit a better world, one where women aren't dismissed and discounted on the basis of their gender.

And then I gave birth.

Little Roo has been a revelation.  Before, she was this abstract idea and I had no trouble imagining how I would fit her into the 'baby' slot in my life.  She would simply be an addition, much like the attic addition to our house.  We would adjust, but life would go on much as before.

Let me pause here so that the parents reading this can finish laughing.

Naive doesn't even begin to describe my pre-parent thinking, but that's okay.  I don't think there really is a way to imagine just how much life changes after your baby is born.  Needless to say, Little Roo has completely transformed my life.  The best way to describe it is a metamorphosis--going from caterpillar to butterfly.  It's a one-way street, and you can never go back to not being a parent.

Not that I want to.

Anyway, the more I get to know this amazing little human, the more my work life faded in importance.  Never in a million years did I think I would *want* to stay home with a drooling, non-verbal, incontinent creature, and yet I can't bear to be apart from her.  I figured I would be counting down the days until I got to go back to work, but I found myself counting down the days until I would have to go back to work.  The thought of leaving her broke my heart, and I'm just not strong enough to do it,

So after much discussion, Mister and I decided that I won't.

It's going to be a big change for us, that's for sure.  And the decision has been a little bittersweet, because I truly did love my teaching job.  I worked with some amazing people, and I am going to miss seeing them every day.

But in the end, I know we made the right choice for our family.  And in addition to taking care of Little Roo, I'm also going to be able to call myself a full-time writer for the first time in my life.  Scary?  Yes.  But also exhilarating.

My daughter will still learn that it is possible to work and have a family--I've come to realize I don't have to leave the house to show her that.  And I know I will still be teaching, even if I never set foot in another classroom again.

My life has changed direction (again!) but I'm not disappointed.  On the contrary, it's exciting, this new road we've chosen.  

I can't wait to see where it takes us.

If you've been reading my blog, you know that Fridays are reserved for a post where I celebrate the little things that have happened during the week. This is a blog hop created by Vikki and now hosted by Lexa Cain, and it's one of my favorite blogging things to do.  I encourage you to check out her blog and the full list of participants, because who doesn't love reading about good things?

Celebrate the Small Things - Vaccines!

We made it through another week!  How's everyone doing?  Hopefully well!

This week, I'm celebrating the fact that Little Roo got her first round of vaccinations.  As a microbiologist, vaccinations are a topic near and dear to my heart, and as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I explained to all my friends and family that if they wanted to see the baby, they needed to be up to date on their whooping cough and flu shots.  Since they're all used to hearing me sing the praises of vaccines (and since my grandparents actually remember the toll of some of these illnesses from the pre-vaccine days), they agreed.  It was important to me to protect Little Roo the best way I know how, and so far, that has worked.

While she hasn't had all of her shots yet, I feel a lot better about taking her out in public knowing she's on her way to being fully protected from Diphtheria, Pertussis (whooping cough), Tetanus, Hepatitis B, Pneumococcus and Haemophilus influenzae (both can cause pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis), Rotavirus, and Polio.  She's too young for the MMR vaccine so I still have to worry about measles, but I've come to understand motherhood is all about worry.

And now it's my turn.  We're starting to get flu vaccine in my area, so I hope to go out this weekend and get my shot.  An ounce of prevention, and all that good stuff.

I'm also celebrating getting to see a friend this weekend.  She's coming over for lunch and some board games, which should be a lot of fun.

I hope you had a good week.  What are you up to this weekend?  Leave a comment and let me know! :)

If you've been reading my blog, you know that Fridays are reserved for a post where I celebrate the little things that have happened during the week. This is a blog hop created by Vikki and now hosted by Lexa Cain, and it's one of my favorite blogging things to do.  I encourage you to check out her blog and the full list of participants, because who doesn't love reading about good things?